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Since this humble servant has the use of reason, bonito has been appreciated and even in many cases intentionally or not confused with tuna, melva, etc …
The price, the quality and even the cache of the “north”Has made it an object of desire for decades at the best tables of the national geography.
These days, a study by a research group from the CEU San Pablo University, Led by Esther Carrera, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, has brought to light a report that shows a “Fraud” in the field of marketing such precious fish.
Words that until now did not sound like anything to the laymen of the dry land, begin to illuminate the commercial acuity of the “clever” who have wanted to use the little tunny, the melva, the yellowfin tuna, or the Sardinian as a northern bonito.
These species have a lower commercial value, although in many cases the tastes of consumers may go against this “economic-monetary” appreciation, and they have been sold with a “confusing” or “misleading” labeling depending on how you look at it.
The studio
It was based on the analysis of the species, with a method for their authentication through “immunoenzymatic”. Technique for the detection of antibodies that was put into practice in the treated species in order to detect whether or not it was each of them.
The analysis was carried out on 3 dozen fish samples, either fresh or frozen, all of which were marketed as Northern bonito.
The result
The sample yielded a shocking data, since 33% of the analyzes were negative, that is, they did not correspond to the tagged species.
The rest, 67%, must be analyzed in detail through DNA to know if it is really Bonito or not, since the yellowfin, shares antibodies with the bonito and does not make their differentiation clear from the initial analysis.
It should be noted that all fraudulent labels correspond to the frozen varieties of the analysis.
The legislation
Since 2000, the EU, through regulation 104/2000, prescribes and obliges all fish producers to mark what species it is, its origin (the REAL), and its production or extraction method, so that consumers in the commercial chain they know exactly what they buy and do not give us frozen for fresh, skewered for extractive or wild for fish farm …
And in the present case, “patudo” for “Bonito”
This shows that there are still companies and food producers that do not comply with the rules for an economic benefit, playing in many cases with the health of consumers, that even though it is a raw material suitable for consumption, there are many other cases in which we could be ingesting something not very recommendable for our body, but that will be another topic of debate in future posts …
Good Fishing and remember:
The White Tuna is the “King” of the tunas, differentiating itself for its exquisite flavor and smooth texture.
They are pieces of about 6 to 10 kg and are fished selectively and traditionally in the waters of the Bay of Biscay.